"Loaded" Apple Trees

I simply cannot pass by an apple tree hanging full of ripe apples without thinking about my dad. Dad loved fruit trees of all types - he even planted a small orchard of his own many years ago. He planted apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, peach trees, apricot trees...if it could bear fruit dad wanted it.

I remember how he used to walk among his fruit trees, carefully inspecting each one. Springtime meant checking to see which trees were in bloom and a few days later which ones had tiny buds of fruit. In the heat of the summer he would check them for bug and fungal infestations. Then came fall and the hope of a bountiful harvest. Dad loved his fruit trees in much the same way that he loved his children. And he worried about them almost as much!

Some of my most vivid memories of dad are the times when he would place smudge-pots (actually old 55 gallon barrels) under his peach trees in the early spring trying to keep the hard freezes from ruining the young blossoms. Here in the southwestern Virginia mountains the climate is just right to ensure that the peach blossoms come early but the last freezes come late - meaning that some years it's a bit difficult to raise a decent crop of peaches here.

Dad would put out his smudge-pots and keep the fires burning all night in an attempt to keep the buds from freezing. It rarely worked. But still he tried his best because he loved his fruit trees so much.

But of course he loved his children even more, and he worried about us too, especially in his later years. He would lie awake at night worrying that something would happen to us, even after we had grown up and left home. That was dad - always concerned about his loved ones.

Dad never really had much luck with his orchard. He and mom ended up selling their property up in the "holler" long before the fruit trees that he had so carefully planted had grown large enough to bear any significant crops. But he enjoyed doing what he could to make sure they had a chance to eventually grow and bear fruit at some point, even if he were no longer in the picture.

No, dad didn't get to see those bountiful crops of apples, pears, cherries...but he fared much better with his kids. We all made it safely to adult-hood where we at least had a chance to bear our own fruits. We all miss him very much.

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